APPENDIX IX
Extracts from the speech by His Excellency Sir Harcourt Butler
at a Durbar held at Lucknow
17th December 1921
Gentlemen,
I am glad to have this opportunity of meeting you to-day, in formal assembly, and to outline to you the policy of the Government.
My Government was accused some months ago of being repressive. I have met that charge completely with facts and figures and proved that the Government has acted with due patience in spite of deliberate and repeated provocation. It has dealt with agitation under the ordinary law and has maintained order and security with reasonable success. Of late the agitators, whose openly avowed object is to make Government impossible, have entered on a campaign of increased activity. Quite recently the Government received reports from several quarters foreshadowing lawlessness and disorder. The Collector of Meerut reported that civil disobedience had been openly preached at the District Congress at Garhmukhtesar, that cloth shops were picketed, that agitation was plainly on the increase, and that everything looked like working up to a climax at an early date. The Commissioner of Fyzabad reported that the situation was menacing in the Bara Banki district where the Deputy Commissioner could not appear without being hooted and the loyal section of population were frightened and disheartened. A speech was delivered in which the audience was asked by a political fanatic whether they would agree to murder the Deputy Commissioner and they replied with one voice that they would. The Commissioner also reported that things were menacing in the Tanda sub-division of the Fyzabad district. At Gonda regular volunteer corps had been instituted with officers. From Cawnpore and Etawah reports came of a recrudescence of criminal intimidation. In Ballia the people were asked to prepare themselves for killing and being killed. Alarming reports were also received from Saharanpur, Aligarh and Gorakhpur.
Now all these reports reached the Government within three or four days. It was quite clear that we were on the verge of serious and widespread trouble. The Government decided, and decided unanimously, to apply the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 1908, part II, to the whole province at once and to issue instructions to Commissioners and District Officers to take all measures under the law necessary for the preservation of order and protection of loyal and peaceful citizens. This was followed by an open defiance to the Government signed by over seventy individuals in the Independent newspaper. As you are aware the ringleaders have been arrested. I do not propose to deal with individual cases; some of them are still under trial. I will only say this, that all the reports I have received from different parts of the province show that the action taken has had excellent result and has restored confidence to loyal and peaceful people. Indeed, there is a feeling of general relief. The Commissioner of Fyazabad reports "There has been a great improvement since I last wrote. The police who had resigned are now applying to be taken back." The Commissioner of Agra writes "The present Government policy appears to be generally welcomed." The Commissioner of Gorakhpur says "There is no doubt that the moderate party not only welcome the arrests but in some cases are jubilant over them." The Commissioner of Meerut reports that the action taken had "been hailed by all loyal persons with the greatest relief." He adds "our friends and the much harried police are in much better hearts and non-co-operator is no longer looked upon with dread by them." The Commissioner of Lucknow attributes the settling down of the Hindu population and especially the cultivating classes largely to the recent action of Government. A re-assuring report has come from Aligarh. The situation is still critical; but, I think, that it is well in hand, and I am convinced that if a policy of firmness is pursued and pursued steadily for some time we may reasonably hope to break the back of a conspiracy which openly avows its intention of trying to do away with Government and openly defies the law of the land.
Consider the position, gentlemen; What have the Congress and Khilafat movements done? Satyagraha, which Mr. Gandhi himself pronounced to be a "Himalayan blunder" ended in disgrace. The attempt to boycott colleges and schools failed signally. It did not affect in this province one per cent of the students and scholars. The attempt to boycott the law courts was wholly unsuccessful. The appeal to surrender titles given by and offices held under the Government fell on deaf ears. The efforts to seduce soldiers and policemen were almost in vain. But with each successive failure, they have sown wider the seeds of racial hatred and the spirit of lawlessness. The results cry out against them and their work. Their hands are dripping with innocent blood; and the cries of ruined homes and ravished women have gone up to heaven. This is the end of the idea of self-Government attained by non-violent revolution, an idea wholly fantastic and chimerical.
As is usual when Government takes vigorous action, there is a body of critics who have no experience or sense of government and who are frightened by action. They seem to think that law and order keep themselves. The truth is far otherwise. Law and order are mainly kept by force, and that with difficulty. They are very easily upset. You have had experience of disorder in southern Oudh, in which there was an orgy of violence, rape, rapine and arson. I do not hesitate to tell you that if the Government trifled with the present situation you would probably soon find your lives, your property and your honour in danger. The objection that action has been taken with warning is quite unfounded. More than once I have publicly declared that this Government would not tolerate disorder or intimidation. The aggressors are those who violate the law.